Everybody Wants To Rule The World
by 100YardDash
Summary: Ridley Mayhew has a secret. She's a mutant with an ability that she can't control. Though she's spent years trying to stay under the radar, she finds herself enrolled at the Adler School for Gifted Youngsters and gets caught up in the struggle between mutants and the rest of humanity. X-men!Glee and HarmonVerse AU.
1. The Firecracker

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot of my story and my OCs. Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan. The X-Men and the rest of their universe belong to Stan Lee and the spectacular institution that is Marvel Comics. Anything that you may recognize from the X-Men movies belongs to Marvel, Bryan Singer, and 20th Century Fox. ****The character of Jack Harmon belongs to the fabulous Soulless Warlock and the universe that our characters inhabit, the HarmonVerse, belongs to Soulless Warlock and his collaborators.**

_(Long Island, New York. The Not-Too-Distant Future)_

Ridley knew that something weird was going on. Erica, the head of the group home that she was staying at, had been downstairs for nearly twenty minutes talking to a bunch of teenagers that had shown up out of the blue during a group therapy session. Now, every girl in the house was curiously eavesdropping at the top of the stairs.

"Thank god they're too young to be cops." Gina said, "I really don't want to go back to juvie."

"Please don't tell me that you robbed another gas station." Trisha mumbled in annoyance.

"Nah, I learned my lesson the first time."

"Really?" Ridley asked with a chuckle, "Because I'm pretty sure it took you two stints in juvie before you stopped trying to empty out cash registers."

Gina shoved her playfully, "Like you're one to talk."

"Did you guys see those boys?" Jordan suddenly said a little too loudly, only to be shushed by one of the other girls. "They were so hot."

Ridley hadn't noticed, but she'd thought the tiny brunette girl was very cute.

"That one guy's visor or whatever was really weird." Trisha replied. "Who even wears red lenses anymore?"

"Snowboarders?" Clair offered.

Maria scoffed, "This is New York; and it's March."

"I'm just saying—" Clair started to reply.

"You don't think they're mutants, do you?" Bridget interrupted, "I hear lots of mutants come to group homes and try to infect human kids."

"Honestly, how stupid can you be?" Gina retorted. "You can only be born a mutant. And, besides, there aren't any mutants living here."

Ridley smirked; that wasn't entirely true.

"You guys don't think Erica could be a mutant, do you?" Clair asked.

"No way!" Jordan replied, "She's way too normal to have any kind of powers."

"Would you all shut up?" Ridley hissed in exasperation. "I'm trying to listen!"

The other girls quieted down, making Erica's conversation with the mysterious trio somewhat easier to hear. Their caretaker had wisely moved her impromptu meeting into the dining room, which was notoriously difficult to eavesdrop on from the stairs.

"A school for the gifted?" She heard Erica suddenly ask.

"It's a place for people like us." One of the boys responded. "It'll help her."

"But she's a serial runaway." Erica protested. "She's has to stay in this facility until she's ready to go back into foster care."

Ridley grimaced, she was the only girl in the home who fit that description. How had they found her? She'd worked so hard to keep her powers a secret.

"Judge Morton has agreed to release her into the school's custody." The girl said. "That is, if she's willing to go."

Oh, hell no. She was not leaving New York. What little that was left of her family was still in the city. And, besides, she had no interest in going to some mutant juvenile hall.

"Keep listening." Ridley whispered to the other girls before she darted into the room she shared with Jordan and Trisha. She worked quickly to pack what little she owned into her backpack, before she climbed out the window and onto the roof.

Breaking out of the home had never been very difficult. Everyone knew that the easiest way out was to shimmy down the drain pipe and hop the back fence. But the girls that were sent to Erica rarely ran away, mostly because leaving the home was a one-way ticket back to juvie.

But, still, running away was better than getting sent to a detention camp, or whatever that so-called school really was.

—**Rachel—**

So far, things had been going smoothly. Unlike many other parents and caretakers, Erica had been surprisingly calm about having a bunch of teenage mutants barging into her facility and informing her that one of her charges wasn't entirely human. Even Jack and Jesse seem to be getting along for a change, which was a miracle in and of itself.

But, like all things, something had to go wrong eventually.

Rachel sensed it when Jesse was explaining the security measures of the school to Erica.

"She's gone." Rachel gasped.

Jack and Jesse turned to her with expressions of surprise.

"You're sure?" Jesse asked.

She nodded at her boyfriend and, without another word, the three of them bolted out of the house like a shot.

"Great, another runaway." Jack grumbled as Rachel tried to focus in on the girl's thoughts. "Why couldn't the Professor find someone who is superhumanly slow for a change?"

"Well, maybe if you spent more time in the Danger Room you'd have better stamina." Jesse retorted.

Jack ignored his older brother's comment. "Actually, now that I think about it, I really hope she tries to fight me."

"You honestly think fighting is going make her want to come with us?" She asked incredulously.

"Well, maybe she's a trial by combat kind of girl." Jack replied. "Ever think of that?"

Jesse groaned, "Why does he even come with us for these missions?"

"Because, nine times out of ten, it turns into this." She replied, "Now, both of you, be quiet. I'm trying to concentrate."

Rachel closed her eyes and tried to reach out for the girl telepathically. The thoughts of other mutants had always sounded a little distorted when she listened for them, so the Professor had trained her to use that quirk to find them. She'd been using that trick for so long that it wasn't too difficult for her to pinpoint the girl.

"This way!" She said as she raced ahead of the boys.

The three of them ran down the adjoining street and found themselves across the street from a small playground. Without thinking, Rachel raced towards the swings—where a blonde girl in a black hooded jacket was checking what looked like a bus schedule.

"You didn't have to run." She told the girl, who looked over at her in surprise, "No one's going to hurt you."

She shoved the pamphlet into the inside pocket of her jacket and glared at Rachel.

"That's what you say to someone while you back them into a corner." She growled, "I'm not stupid."

"That's up for debate." Jack quipped as he and Jesse ran up behind her. "But, Rachel's right. No one's going to hurt you, as long as you come quietly."

"Jack!" She and Jesse exclaimed simultaneously.

Why did he always have to rile up the jumpy mutants? It made their job way harder than it needed to be.

—**Ridley—**

Did this girl think she was stupid? There was no way in hell she was going with them. She'd seen enough stories on the news to know that any place that was calling itself a _mutant school_ was bound to be some kind of trap. There were people all over the world that despised mutants, why should she believe that there was anyone out there who wanted to help them?

"Back off!" Ridley retorted, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Who in the hell writes her dialogue?" The boy called Jack quipped.

Ridley raised an eyebrow at him. Seriously, that's what he was going with? Didn't he realize that she could pretty much kill him if she wanted to?

The shorter boy frowned, "Could you not?"

"I'm just curious." He said with a shrug, "I didn't get up this early to reenact _Oliver and Company_."

Rachel groaned, "Can you two not argue in front of the civilian? It makes us look disorganized and not united."

Ridley smirked and slowing began moving her way backwards. Whoever these people were, they were giving her a perfect moment to escape.

"I'd be more than happy to show unity." The boy in the visor said. "As long as someone wouldn't try to start fights."

Ridley stifled a chuckle and continued to back up. She was well enough away from them now that she could make a break for it.

"Someone starts them and someone finishes them." Jack retorted.

"Honestly, I don't know why the Professor teamed you two up." Rachel sighed.

"Because you need us." Jack replied simply. "Who else would keep you from being blown to bits on a mission?"

Ridley had moved back into a little hiding spot in the woods by now. She knew it would've been best to run for it, but she had a sneaking suspicion they knew how to track her when she was on the movie. Besides, they were oddly entertaining to observe.

"Tigger, I doubt that Rachel needs any help there." The visored boy said with a smile.

Even from a distance, Ridley could see Jack turn beet red.

"Don't call me Tigger!" He exclaimed, which only made Rachel giggle.

"Hey, wait." Rachel said suddenly, as if she remembered something. "Where'd she go?"

Ridley froze.

"Oh crap, I forgot about her." The other boy said, "Crap, the Professor is going to kill us."

"We really should've just shot her." Jack said. "It would've made this so much easier."

"Jack!" The other two exclaimed in annoyance.

"What?" He replied, "It would. If we had, we could be on the Blackbird right now heading home."

The other boy frowned, "Be quiet Jack."

"Don't tell me what to do Jesse!"

Jesse smiled tensely, "I'm older, remember Tigger?"

"Stop calling me Tigger!" He yelled angrily. "God, you're as bad as dad. Just shut up for once in your damn life."

"Guys!" Rachel yelled. "This isn't getting us anywhere!"

The boys seemed to exchange several heated insults before, out of nowhere, a bright red blast shot from Jesse's eyes and hit a tree far too close from where Ridley was hiding. She screamed and raced forward and, without realizing it, released a baseball-sized chunk of plasma from the palm of her hand.

She widened her eyes when she saw it roll towards the trio, who were now eying the ball curiously.

"Get away from that!" She screamed.

Suddenly, rays of wild red energy circled around Jack before he shot them in the direction of the ball. Instinctively, Ridley ran as far back from it as she could.

She could feel the countdown inside her head. _Five...four...three...two..._

Suddenly, she heard a loud boom and saw a shower of flaming wood chips rain down on the park in the distance.

"Shit, now I've done it." She mumbled as she tore away from the park.

As she ran, she hoped that, whoever those guys were, they hadn't been killed and they had enough sense to stay the hell away from her. Even if they were mutants and, even if their story was true, there was no way in hell she was trusting them now.

—**Rachel—**

Great. The boys just had to start fighting, lose tracking their target, and one of them just had to lose control of their powers in public again. Their brothers at war routine was starting to get on her last nerve.

But, there were more pressing matters to deal with. Like a strange, glowing yellow ball that was rolling right towards them.

"Get away from that!" The girl screamed.

Rachel took her advice and backed up as far as she could but Jack decided that _get away_ meant _let me blast this glowing orb to smithereens_.

"Jack!" She yelled as she threw up a telekinetic shield as quickly as she could. Thankfully, it went up before Jack's beam connected with the ball, which made a small crater in the middle of the park and sent a cloud of flaming wood into the air.

She was going to kill him when they got home.

"What the hell was that?" Jesse exclaimed as the smoke cleared. A small section of the park was now on fire.

"You scared her, that's what!" Jack yelled. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"What was I thinking?" Jesse yelled incredulously, "What about you? What were you thinking throwing a blast at that bomb? You could've gotten us all killed!"

"I didn't know it was a damn bomb!" Jack retorted before he pointed to the crater. "This is why I campaign on a platform of permanent aggression!"

Rachel rolled her eyes at her hot-headed friend, "Yes, because it's working out so well for all of us."

"Nice." Jesse chuckled.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't. You're in just as much trouble."

"Ha!"

Rachel turned back to Jack. "But you're in a little more."

Jesse smirked. "Ha!"

Jack narrowed his eyes at his brother, "Bite me!"

"You two can reenact Twilight later." Rachel quipped as she tried to hone in on the girl's thoughts. They were erratic, but they were clear. "Come on, we have to get her before something else happens."

"What about this mess?" Jesse asked.

"Let the humans deal with it." She replied as she keep her focus squarely on the girl. She felt bad for her, she was confused and terrified and the three of them had only made matters worse.

As they tried to trace the girl's path, Rachel finally managed to pinpoint a location.

"She's headed to the Greyhound station." She told them before they stopped.

"What do we do?" Jack asked.

"You two are going back to the damn jet!" She retorted. "I'll handle this. The Professor is probably going to call in and ask what's taking so long anyway."

"No way!" Jack protested. "I'm not sitting this out!"

She glared at him. "Don't test me right now. I can either go back to the Blackbird or I can make you think that you're an eighty-year-old woman for the rest of the semester. Take your pick."

Jesse snickered, "You're so hot when you're angry."

"Don't." She warned him. "I'm mad at you too."

Jesse sighed and nodded at her in understanding. "You sure you can handle her on your own?"

"I'll be fine." She replied, "Now, head back to the jet and call the Professor. Okay?"

They both nodded and started to head back. Rachel took a deep breath and refocused on the girl.

"W_hat the hell is wrong with me?_" She could hear the girl thinking. "_I haven't had an incident like that in ages._"

Poor girl. Rachel knew what it was like to lose control out of nowhere. It was beyond frustrating.

"_Come on Ridley, focus._" The girl thought. "_Just get a ticket to Boston and then you can go from there._"

At that moment, Rachel stopped listening and started to run as fast as she could to the bus station. There was no way she was letting Ridley run away to Boston.

—**Ridley—**

She'd been so damn stupid. She knew better than to let her emotions get the better of her. Her uncle always said that she was a firecracker just waiting to explode. If only he knew how right he'd been when he'd been when he called her that.

"W_hat the hell is wrong with me?_" She thought as she went into the front lobby of the Greyhound station. "_I haven't had an incident like that in ages._"

As she walked towards the ticket kiosk, she couldn't help but knock into a few harried travelers who were trying to race to their bus. But she was too distracted by the fiasco in the park to care about what a nuisance she was being.

"Do you mind?" One guy randomly exclaimed as she unintentionally brushed into him, "Watch where you're going Blondie."

"_Come on Ridley, focus._" She thought as she finally got behind the ticket line. "_Just get a ticket to Boston and then you can go from there._"

Unfortunately for her, the line was ridiculously long today. It was going to take her forever to get on that bus.

"_Where are you going?_" She heard someone whisper after a few minutes of waiting.

Ridley turned around widely, but there was no one behind her.

"_You don't really want to run away, do you?_" The same voice whispered.

"What?" Ridley said out loud as she looked around again, which made the man in front of her turn around and stare at her like she'd lost her mind. What the hell was going on?

"_Maybe things would be better if you stopped running._" It said.

Now she understood, one of those mutants was a telepath. That's how they'd been able to track her from the group home.

"_Aren't you tired of it?_" The voice asked, "_Aren't you sick of always being afraid? Of looking over your shoulder and waiting for someone to figure out what you are?_"

"Get out of my head." Ridley growled as she stepped out of the line to get a better vantage point. "You don't know anything."

"_You'd be surprised._" The voice said. "_Come on, just talk to me. We're more alike than you'd think._"

Suddenly, there was a gap in the crowd and Ridley could see Rachel sitting on a bench not too far from the kiosk. She smiled at Ridley mischievously.

"Guess I really don't have a choice, do I?" Ridley asked aloud.

The other girl chuckled a little and beckoned her over to the bench.

"See, that wasn't so hard." She said once she'd sat down. "Nice to officially meet you, I'm Rachel Berry."

"Ridley Mayhew." She replied, "What do you want?"

"Well, before you decided to run off, we were going to talk to you about enrolling in our school. It's exclusively for people like us."

"Sounds too good to be true." Ridley retorted.

"I thought the same thing." Rachel said as a fond smile formed on her face. "The Professor showed up at my house and told all about this amazing school that would help me learn to control my powers. I thought it had to be some kind of trap."

"And you're telling me it's not?" She asked skeptically, "How am I supposed to take your word for it? Your friends tried to kill me."

Rachel face went red, "That was an accident. Jack and Jesse have a bad habit of working each other up to the point where they set up their powers. No one was purposely trying to hurt you. And, to be fair, I didn't throw a bomb in the middle of a playground."

"I didn't mean to!" Ridley exclaimed before she could help herself, "It was an accident."

"It's a cool power." She admitted, "But, from what I can tell, you've barely scratched the surface of what you can do. The Professor has helped a lot of us expand our abilities."

"Who's this Professor you keep talking about?"

Rachel smiled, "Why don't you come with me and find out? You don't have to, if you don't want. But aren't you a little curious?"

She shook her head empathically, "I'd rather blow up this bus station."

"You don't really mean that." Rachel said as she furrowed her eyebrows, "You don't have to be scared."

"I am not scared!" Ridley seethed. "I'm just not going to go willingly into a trap."

Rachel stared at her curiously for a moment.

"What?" She snapped, "Are you trying to get inside my head again? Try all you want, but I'm still not going anywhere."

"I didn't want to have to do this." Rachel sighed, "But it's for your own good."

"What are you talking about?"

Rachel closed her eyes and Ridley started to feel her vision going fuzzy.

"_Just relax._" She heard Rachel say inside her head. "_I'm not going to hurt you._"

"Screw you." Ridley shot back before everything around her faded to black.

—**Rachel—**

Rachel frowned as Ridley slumped into her seat and passed out. She hadn't wanted to knock her out, but there was no way she was going to go with her willingly.

"After she sees the school for herself, she'll thank me for this." Rachel said to herself as she dug in her bag for her communicator. "As long as the Professor doesn't kill me for bringing her in first."

Finally, she managed to find her communicator's headset and attached it to her right ear before turning it on.

"Jesse?" She said aloud, "Do you read me?"

"You're clear Rach." He replied. "You got her?"

"Yeah." She replied as she turned to the unconscious girl. "I got her. Have Jack take the jet to the nearest clearing by the bus station. We'll meet you there."

"You sure you're okay?" Jesse asked, "You sound off. That girl didn't hurt you, did she?"

"I'm fine." She replied in as upbeat of voice as she could muster. "I just want to go home."


	2. Fast Times At Mutant High

**Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing but the plot of my story and my OCs. Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan. The X-Men and the rest of their universe belong to Stan Lee and Marvel Comics. Anything that you may recognize from the X-Men movies belongs to Marvel, Bryan Singer, and 20th Century Fox. The characters of Jack Harmon and Jenn McGraw belong to Soulless Warlock and Coca-Cola Flavoured Sherbet, and the universe that our characters inhabit, the HarmonVerse, belongs to Soulless Warlock and his collaborators.**

**―Jesse―**

As soon as the Blackbird landed underneath the basketball court of the Adler School for Gifted Youngsters, Jonathan Michael Harmon was thrown out of the jet and onto his ass.

"What the hell Jesse?" He spat as his brother causally walked down the landing platform.

Jesse paused for a second to look back at Rachel, who was walking unsteadily behind him. She was clearly exhausted from overusing her powers but, being Rachel, she'd refused to acknowledge how tired she really was.

"I've been squabbling with you for hours." Jesse retorted once he was sure that Rachel had steadied herself. "I needed to shut you up for one second or I was going to blast your ass to kingdom come."

"You're such an asshole!" He replied as he threw a disc of energy at him. Even though it connected right in the middle of Jesse's forehead, the disk didn't leave as much as a scratch on the older Harmon.

"You'd think you would've learned by now that I'm immune to your powers, baby brother." He said with a smirk.

"I'm not an idiot." Jack replied as he got up from the ground, "It just feels nice to aim at your stupid face."

Annoyed, Jesse shot an eye beam directly at his brother's chest, but he didn't even flinch. Jesse groaned in annoyance, sometimes he really wished that he could blast some sense into his brother's thick skull.

"For once in your life, could you stop trying to undermine me?" Jesse asked, "I'm the leader here."

Jack cocked an eyebrow at him, "And, last time I checked, I'm pretty sure that Rachel was the team leader. Just because you're older doesn't mean you're the boss."

Jesse turned back to his girlfriend who was now sitting on the landing platform and staring into her lap. She looked like she was about to pass out.

"I have seniority at this school." Jesse replied as he refocused on Jack.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Again, age is not a factor."

"But experience is."

"And I would have more experience if you weren't always pushing me aside because you want to impress your girlfriend."

"Guys—" Rachel groaned. "Not now. We have an unconscious mutant to deal with."

"I wouldn't have to if you weren't always trying to impress _my_ girlfriend." He said, lowering his voice so Rachel couldn't hear him.

"I'm not trying to impress Rachel." Jack mumbled.

"Please, it's obvious that you have feelings for her." Jesse replied smugly, "But she picked me—not you. Deal with it, baby bro."

With that, Jack shot an even large disc of energy that nearly hit the plane. Without even thinking, Jesse dove at his brother and pinned him against the wall.

"For god sake, use your freaking head!" Jesse spat. "I swear, sometimes I think you like being a walking force of destruction."

"Get off!" Jack snarled as he struggled beneath Jesse's grip.

"Would you both stop this homoerotic freak show of yours?" An all too familiar voice asked. "All this testosterone is giving me a headache."

Jesse bristled at the voice and turned to see their tracksuit-clad teacher, Sue Sylvester, walking into the hanger with a scowl on her face. Unfortunately for him, Jack decided to take that moment to sucker punch him in the side.

"Jerk." He groaned before accidentally releasing his hold on the volatile boy.

Jack smirked and launched himself at Jesse, forcing the older boy to the floor as Jack managed to get him in a chokehold. Not to be outdone, Jesse aimed a well-coiled fist at where he surmised was his brother's kidney.

"Stop hitting me!"

"Stop choking me!"

"Enough!" Sue yelled, and the room went eerily quiet.

Jesse's head felt oddly hazy in that moment. The room seemed to go foggy and Sue's voice became distorted as he and Jack untangled themselves from each other. She told them a few other things, but Jesse couldn't understand a word of it.

However, before he could question what was going on, all of the haze faded away and Jesse blinked as his eyes readjusted to the light of the hanger.

"You hypnotized us!" Jack exclaimed accusingly after a moment.

Sue shot a glare at him and the younger boy shut his mouth.

Their teacher turned to Rachel. "What in the bluest of blue hells is going on here?"

"It's a long story." She replied as she shakily stood up.

"And where's the girl?"

"Inside the Blackbird."

Sue raised an eyebrow, "And you left her in there because you guys are on a merit system or something?"

Rachel bit her lip, "There were complications. She's sort of unconscious right now."

"Jack." Sue barked. "Take the girl to the infirmary and then head to the Professor's office. He wants to talk to the three of you."

The way Sue had phrased that last sentence made Jesse's stomach flop. The Professor generally didn't do debriefings when classes were in session, unless there was some sort of emergency. He usually left the routine meeting to Sue or Beiste and would read the reports later. So, seeing him breaking from routine like this couldn't be a good sign.

"Oh crap." Jesse thought. "What've we done now?"

**—Ridley—**

When she finally opened her eyes, all Ridley could see was white. The ceiling, the walls, and even an indecently bright light above her head was white. She blinked a few times and sat up, only to feel a sharp pain radiating from her temples.

What the hell had happened?

It took her a second before the memory came back. This had all been Rachel's doing. She'd gone inside her head and made her pass out so they could bring her to whatever internment camp or laboratory that they claimed was a _mutant school_.

Her eyes darted around what she guessed was a recovery room as her clarity returned. She didn't see any cameras, but there were also no windows that she could escape out of either. However, the entry door looked promising.

Ridley pushed herself off the cot and checked the handle. Remarkably, it was unlocked. She pulled her things off the nearby coat rack and pushed down on the handle before she entered what looked like a small examination area. She crept to the next door as quickly as she could and, after finding that it was also unlocked, ended up in a nondescript white hallway with various metallic doors.

Unfortunately, she could also hear someone coming her way.

Without even thinking, she dove towards the first door she could see and turned the handle. She found herself standing inside a humongous garage that was littered with more gorgeous cars than she'd ever seen in her life.

"Seriously, you don't need to trick out a perfectly good bike." A boy with coiffed chestnut hair said as Ridley ducked behind a nearby coupe.

"Yeah man." A blonde said as he perused through a toolbox. "Your bike is awesome."

An annoyed boy with a mop of curly brown hair handed the blonde a socket wrench from the backseat of the muscle car that he was lounging in.

"But she could be so much faster." He said. "If Artie can get that nitrous canister working right, my baby could be the fastest thing on the road."

Ridley gazed from behind the coupe and saw a gorgeous Harley Davidson Titan V-Rod perched near the blonde boy. The bike was absolutely pristine.

Unfortunately, trying to get a look at the bike caused the coiffed boy to spot her.

"Jesus!" He screeched. "What're you doing here?"

Ridley jumped back in surprised and, just like that time at the playground, released another ball of plasma that rolled slowly towards the boys.

"The hell is that thing?" The curly-haired one asked.

"Get away from that!" She yelled the countdown began to tick off in her head. "It's a bomb."

_Five  
_  
Two of the boys scattered like roaches but, for some reason, the blonde had made his way closer to her and had grabbed her arm.

_Four_

"The hell are you doing?" She exclaimed.

_Three_

"Just trust me." He said as he closed his eyes.

_Two_

"Let go of me!" She screamed, "That thing is going to blow."

_One_

Then, out of nowhere, Ridley heard a poof sound and saw herself and the boy enveloped in a cloud of blue smoke. But, before she could even comment, she found that she wasn't even with the boy anymore—but alone in an office being stared at by several people.

"Um, high there." She said. "Seems I got turned around."

**—Jesse—**

As soon as the three of them sat down in Professor Schuester's office, Jesse knew that they were screwed. The exasperated look on their mentor's usually warm face was enough to make Jesse's stomach turn with shame.

"So." Sue said to break the deafening silence. "You three have had a very interesting day, haven't you?"

"That's one way of looking at it." Jack muttered.

Sue shot a glare at him while the Professor remained stony-faced.

"I assume that the three of you know what YouTube is, correct?" She asked.

The trio nodded.

Her smile was almost sinister, "Well, when you called in a few hours ago, we were surprised to also get a red flag for a video that was titled _Mutants Attack Long Island Playground_."

All three of their faces fell, and Jesse could feel his stomach churning even more violently.

"Would any of you care to explain why you thought it was a good idea to chase that girl into a public area in the middle of the day and try to attack her?"

"That's not what happened." Jesse said, "She threw some sort of bomb at us. We were only trying to—"

"Get the four of you exposed?"

Jack smirked. "If I was going to expose anything, it'd be with a beautiful woman in a dark room."

The Professor rolled his eyes at the bombastic mutant, and Jesse could feel Rachel shifting to give his brother a nudge of disapproval.

"If that video had gone viral, it could've been just the thing to start up another anti-mutant bill in the senate or worse!" Sue snarled. "You're lucky that we monitor for this sort of thing and that Jenn was able to pull it before it got more than a few dozen hits."

"We didn't mean for—" Rachel started to say.

"Quiet Berry!" Sue barked. "You're in just as much trouble as the Super Blast Brothers over there! What were you thinking? We don't forcibly extract mutants unless it's absolutely necessary!"

"You know about that?" Rachel asked before she glanced over at the Professor.

"I had a very long phone conversation with the director of the Sacred Heart Girls' Home and had to explain to her that her charge wasn't kidnapped by three teenage 'mutant school recruiters'."

"Sue, take it easy." The Professor said.

"I will not take it easy William!" She exclaimed, "These three are dangerously irresponsible. I'm electing that all be immediately taken off field duty and take a few mandatory refresher classes in the importance of secrecy."

"What?!" Jesse exclaimed, "But Coach—"

"Quiet!"

"There's no way I'm going back to those stupid kiddie classes." Jack retorted as he jerked out of his seat.

"Sit down and shut your mouth." Sue growled at them, but her voice sounded strange and distorted again. But, this time, it was almost melodic.

Jack's expression turned oddly dreamy and he did as he was told. Jesse scowled at Sue, if she hadn't been their teacher he would've shot several beams directly at her throat. He never took kindly to people screwing with Jack.

"Sue!" Will barked. "Stop that!"

"Oh fine." She grumbled before she made a whistling sound that seemed to release Jack from her hold over him. His little brother blinked several times in confusion.

"As I was saying," Sue continued causally, "They should all be taken off field work."

Will sighed, "Given the circumstances, I have to agree. You three will continue your training sessions as per usual, but you're also to report to Ms. Sylvester for additional lectures on our secrecy guidelines."

"This blows worse than a doped-up tramp." Jack mumbled.

Will narrowed his eyes at the boy, "And, if I hear one more complaint out of any of you, you'll be given three weeks of maintenance work."

At that exact moment, a small boom sounded below them and floor of the office rattled ever-so-slightly.

Jack looked around the room curiously, "Did anyone else hear that?"

It was at that moment the question left Jack's lips that, out of nowhere, a small cloud of blue smoke materialized in the office and deposited the startled mutant that had gotten them all into this mess.

"Um, high there." She said awkwardly. "Seems I got turned around."

**—Ridley—**

She was going to kill that blonde boy the next time she saw him. Not only had he meddled in her escape plan, but he'd left at the mercy of the last three people she wanted to see.

Now, here she was, stammering at them and acting like a complete idiot.

"So, you're finally awake." A stern-looking woman, who Ridley happened to now be standing next to, said with a hint of a sneer. "About time."

"I'm sorry." Ridley said. "But who the hell are you?"

"Sue Sylvester." She replied before she held out her hand. "I'm one of the teachers here at Adler."

Ridley took the hand and shook it. Sue, unsurprisingly, had a very firm grip.

"There's no such thing as a mutant school." She replied, "So, what is this place? Some mutant terrorist cell?"

Jesse and Rachel began to chuckle.

"This really is a school." A middle-aged man said. "I assure you, it's not a cover for anything—well, not really."

"Not really?" She repeated, which illicit more chuckling from her teenaged kidnappers. She turned to look at them, and saw that Jack was glaring at her like she'd broken his favorite toy.

"What?" She snapped at him.

"You blew something else up, didn't you?"

She glanced over to the curious adults and grinned sheepishly, "I may have, accidentally, blown a hole in your garage and possibly knocked out two of your students."

Jack's scowl deepened as the older man closed his eyes and held his forefingers to his left temple for some unexplained reason.

"You're just making friends all over, aren't you?" The cocky mutant asked.

"She is doing better than you ever have." Jesse replied.

"No one asked you." He shot back. "And at least I didn't destroy one of the best parts of the school."

"I'm sorry, Krillin, but some of are prone to doing stupid things when we're scared!"

"Krillin!" He bellowed in disgust. "Oh, she's dead!"

Jack made a move to lunge at her but, before he could, Rachel had latched onto his head and pulled him back into his seat. He looked almost sedated by her touch—probably another telepathic trick of some kind.

"Not that being kidnapped hasn't been fun." She said as she glanced over at a guilty-looking Rachel. "But I've got to hit the road. Now, if someone could kindly direct me to the nearest exit, I'll be on my merry way."

Jack, who'd clearly recovered from Rachel's sedation, opened his mouth to say something but the tiny girl put a hand over his mouth with a surprising burst of speed.

"I know you don't want to be here." Rachel blurted out as Jack wiggled under her grip. "But, please, just talk with the Professor. He can help you."

"Look." She said as Rachel released her high-strung friend, "I appreciate the offer, I really do. But I'm going to pass on whatever recruitment speech you've prepared. I have a life to get back to."

"Ridley, I really do want to help you. I know you have questions, and I just want give you the answers." The Professor said. "Just give me ten minutes. If you still don't want to stay after that, I'll have a member of the staff take you wherever you want to go."

She eyed him suspiciously. This had to be some sort of trick. But, still, it was hard not to say no to a free ride.

"Fine." She said as she leaned against the wall. "I'll give you ten minutes."

The man smiled and turned to his associate. "Sue, could you please escort these three to their next class?"

Sue smiled a smile that could only be described as sinister. "Way ahead of you William. Come on imbeciles! You might as well go learn something useful."

The three of them got out of their chairs and began to file out of the office, but not before Jack left a piece of torn-up paper onto the cushion of his seat.

Ridley couldn't help herself and, as she sat down in his seat, opened up the scrap of paper.

"Look for the bodies, Sue Sylvester is the killer. —Jack Harmon"

She chuckled and placed the scrap on Will's desk.

"So, how exactly are you going to _help_ me?"

Will smiled. "I can teach you how to manage that volatile ability of yours."

She cocked an eyebrow at him, "Excuse me?"

"This school is, above all, a safe haven. It's a place where mutants are free to be themselves and learn how to control and strengthen their powers." He explained, "When the students feel they're ready, they can reenter human society and go on to become whatever they want to be. No one is forced to be here if they don't want to."

"Sounds too good to be true." She scoffed.

He smiled knowingly, "Many of the students here were in your shoes once. They've had to run away or hide in order to pass among humans. It's completely normal to be afraid of—"

"See, that's where you're wrong." She cut in. "I'm not afraid. I could care less about what the morons of the world think of me."

Wills eyebrows furrowed in surprise and Ridley took that to be her cue.

"Not that this hasn't been fascinating." She said as she stood up and made her way to the door. "But I'm pretty sure your ten minutes are up. Tell whoever that I need a ride back to New York."

"Ridley, how much longer is your mother sentence?"

Her hand froze on the doorknob.

"How did you know about that?" She asked as she turned around.

He smiled and tapped the tips of his forefinger against his left temple.

Her eyes widened in realization, "Oh, I get it. You're a telepath like Rachel. That explains why you were so damn sure of yourself."

His calm expression didn't waver, "I haven't made you do anything that you didn't want to do, and I have no desire to break that streak."

"Then what's the point of you snooping around inside my head?"

"I'm just trying to help." He said, "Your mother has, what, six months left on her sentence? Wouldn't be a lot better if you knew how to handle your power when she got out?"

Ridley looked down at the floor. It would be nice to not blow something up every time someone scared her.

"And what about after six months?"

Will smiled, "That's up to you. No one's going to force you to stay here. You can leave at any time. But, look at it this way, here you'll at least have a bed and know when your next meal it."

Damn, he had a point. And, from the looks of things, she could do a lot worse than stay at a school. She'd always told her mom that she wanted a decent education.

"Okay, fine." She relented. "I'll stay."

Will smiled brightly, "Excellent! Let me make a few calls and we'll get you registered."

She slumped back into the chair and stared into her lap. What the hell had she gotten herself into?

**—Jesse—**

"What are your next classes?" Sue asked as the four of them made their way out of the Professor's office.

"We have a free period right now." Rachel answered as she leaned against the closed door. She looked absolutely exhausted.

"Fine." Sue replied. "I'll see the three of you in my office tomorrow at noon for your new lecture sessions. Until then, I fully expect the three of you to stay the hell out of my sight."

"We will Coach." Jesse said.

Sue nodded and strutted down the hallway towards her office. Any lingering students made as much room for her as they possibly could—Sue had a nasty habit of shoving people when she was angry.

"I can't believe we were so thoroughly screwed just now." Jack murmured as he moved closer to Rachel, who just pushed him back telekinetically. "The hell?"

"I'm furious with you both right now." She said. "Lately you two can't even get through a training session without killing each other, and I'm sick of it. Until you two can work out whatever the hell is going on, I'm done with you. I won't speak, sleep, or do anything with either of you."

"Baby—" Jesse tried to say, but she shot him down with a glare.

"I'm serious." She said, "I can't take this anymore. Get along or find another teammate, friend, and girlfriend."

"That's hardly fair Rach." Jack said.

"What's not fair is having to watch two of my favorite guys trying to kill each other day in and out." She replied as she started shakily heading towards the stairs. "So, figure it out."

"Fine!" Jack seethed when she was out of earshot. "See if I care!"

"That's a really effective thing to say when she can't hear you."

"Shut up!" Jack growled. "I don't get what her problem is."

"She's just tired." Jesse reasoned. "You know how cranky she can get when she overuses her powers. She'll probably get over this whole fiasco in a few days and, with any luck, the Professor will lessen our punishments if we manage not to do anything too drastic."

Jack cocked an eyebrow at him, "You're being oddly optimistic for someone whose girlfriend basically said that she's temporarily breaking up with you. You sure it's all just going to blow over?"

He had a point, Rachel had basically broken up with him. And, even though he really was trying to stay positive, he'd never really seen her so adamant before. Maybe Jack was right; maybe things were way worse than he was letting himself believe. Rachel had never just flatly given up on the two of them before, which was worrisome in and of itself.

"I have no idea." He finally said before the pair started to make their way towards the boys' dormitories. "But she has to get over it, doesn't she? She needs us."

Jack didn't say anything at that, he just tore off in the opposite direction like a bat out of hell. Jesse sighed and continued the slow trek to his dorm.

Maybe they needed Rachel way more than she needed them.

**—Ridley—**

It only took Will an hour and a handful of keystrokes to get Ridley registered, enrolled in classes, and assigned to a dorm. All the while, Ridley sat quietly and wondered whether or not she'd made a huge mistake.

"You're getting three meals a day, a bed, and they're teaching you how to control your powers." She thought. "Things could be a hell of a lot worse."

"Not to mention, we also have an excellent library." Will said suddenly as he typed. "You're quite the bookworm, aren't you?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you mind not snooping around inside my head?"

"Sorry. Sometimes I pick up thoughts without meaning to." He said with an apologetic smile. "When I was a bit younger than you, I couldn't be in a room with another person without hearing what they were thinking."

"Sounds incredibly annoying."

"It was." He replied solemnly before his expression brightened again. "And it took time, but I got a lot better at handling my telepathy. Now it's rare that I hear someone's thoughts without meaning to."

"How'd you figure out how to handle it?" Ridley asked. Despite her best efforts, she was strangely intrigued by the Professor.

"I used to be a student here." He said as he made a few more keystrokes. "But that was a long time ago."

Ridley smirked, "Ancient history, right?"

He laughed and stood up from his seat. "Your paperwork is all finished. Now, I'd love to stay and tell you my life story, but I have a history class to teach in fifteen minutes. Your guide should be here soon to show you to your dorm."

She smiled at him as he gathered his things. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." He replied before heading out into the hall.

"Huh." She said aloud once the Professor had shut the door. "He's actually not so bad."

It was at that moment that Ridley noticed a large folder laying on Will's desk. Curious, she opened it up to find a picture of herself staring back at her impassively. She looked a little too much like her mom in that picture.

"Oh shit!" She thought as she made a mad grab for the phone on Will's desk. She dialed the number as quickly as she could and waited.

"Rikers Island Correctional Facility." A bored man said.

"Hi, I need to speak with a prisoner."

"That's not how it works." The man replied. "They have to call you."

Ridley bit her lip, "I know that, but this is important. Can you at least give her a message or something? The prisoner is my mother."

The man groaned. "Fine. What's her name? I'll pass along the message."

"Elise Mayhew." She said. "Tell her I'm not at Sacred Heart anymore and that I was placed in a private school upstate for a while. Tell her not to worry, I'll be fine."

Ridley told the man the number that was labeled on Will's phone and hung up.

"Hopefully, he actually wrote that down." She mumbled as she sat back down and flipped through her open file.

It was surprisingly thorough. It had her social worker's case file, her juvenile record, the transcripts of her court appearances, her grades, and even copies of Erica's notes on her progress at Sacred Heart.

"Catching up on a little light reading?"

Startled, Ridley jumped out of her seat. Thankfully, this time, no bombs fell from her hands. The last thing she wanted to do was blow up the Professor's office.

She turned around and saw a beautiful girl who was wearing dark skinny jeans, a black Red Hot Chili Peppers top, and a long red and black flannel shirt. She was smiling mischievously as Ridley as she pushed a strand of fading electric-blue hair behind her ear.

"I was only curious!" Ridley all but stuttered as she set the file back down on the desk.

The blue-haired girl laughed. "It's fine. Everyone peeks at their files. I'd be concerned if you hadn't been curious."

Ridley smiled nervously at her, "So, I'm guessing you're my guide?"

"Yep!" She said enthusiastically as she held out a hand. "I'm Dani Harper."

"I'm Ridley." She replied as she shook it.

"Come on." Dani said as soon as she broke contact. "You might as well get up to your dorm now that everyone's in class. It's a bitch to navigate between periods."

Ridley nodded and followed the blue-haired girl out of the office and into an ornate hallway. This place was way nicer than she'd assumed it be.

"So." Dani said as the came to an atrium with a huge staircase. "All the classrooms and offices are here are on the ground floor. So are the dining room, the day room, the library, and all of the other are that visitors and the public are allowed to see. The meal times are all pretty standard and a lot of people will just grab something out of the kitchen after hours if they've got a lot of homework or have come back from a mission."

"Do people generally go out on missions a lot?"

"It honestly depends." Dani replied. "Sometimes, a squad can go for weeks without a mission."

Ridley made a mental note to ask her about the squads later.

"What's downstairs?" She asked.

"It's mostly just storage. There's a few labs and training areas for students and the staff. There's also some dorms for students who have uncontrollable powers or weird physical mutations so they can't stay in the ones on the second floor."

Ridley cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there was one student whose entire body was made up of fire. You could touch her and stuff, but she'd set the bed on fire when she slept." Dani said as she cracked a smile. "I used to live down there before my power stabilized."

"What kind of power do you have?"

Was it rude to ask that? She'd never really been around other mutants before. Who knew what was polite and what wasn't.

Dani smiled slyly and held up her hand, palm up. Ridley looked down at it and saw little lightning bolts fizzle and spark in her hand.

"That's so cool!" Ridley exclaimed.

Dani's smile brightened. "You think so?"

"Yeah." Ridley said. "It's way cooler than mine. You could probably take out a whole city block with your electricity."

Technically, so could she. But she'd be taking out way more than a few appliances.

"I did, a couple times." Dani said as she rolled up the sleeve of her shirt. Not only were they dotted in tattoos but there was also a small steel band on each of her wrists. "I can't generate my own electricity. I absorb it around me, and I can't actually stop absorbing it. Until I came here I would just keep charging and charging until I'd accidentally cause an electrical storm. The bands manage to keep me from frying the place."

Then, without saying anything, Dani rolled her sleeves back down and led Ridley up the stairs. As they walked in silence, she wondered if whoever made Dani's bands could make something to inhibit her bombs. But, before she could ask her blue-haired guide, Dani stopped abruptly at a nondescript door marked 212.

"This is your room." Dani said as she pulled out a small, old-fashioned iron key from her back pocket and started fiddling with the lock. "They should've already brought up all your stuff, so you can unpack right away."

Ridley grimaced. All she'd brought with her was in her backpack. And even that was only toiletries, a couple changes of clothes, a few battered paperbacks, and her notebook. Everything else was still in her mom's storage locker in Red Hook.

The lock clicked and Dani opened the door. The room was about the size of the one she shared at Sacred Heart, only this one was designed to hold two people rather than be crammed with three. Both sides of the room had a small bed, a basic wooden desk, a dresser, and a nightstand. The right side was totally sterile and undecorated while the left was littered with skirts, shirts, and variety of shoes and covered with photos and posters of bands that Ridley only vaguely recognized.

In addition, a girl with cranberry red hair was laying stomach-first on a bed as she flipped through what appeared to be a chemistry textbook. She looked up at Ridley and Dani and frowned.

"What the hell are you two doing in here?" The redhead asked.

"You've got a new roommate." Dani said with the faintest hint of annoyance. "Her name's Ridley Mayhew."

Ridley smiled at the pretty, though unwelcoming, redhead. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Jenn." She replied softly. "Jenn McGraw. Welcome to Adler, or whatever."

At that exact moment, Jenn closed her eyes and fell right through her bed.

"What the hell?" Ridley exclaimed as she poked the bed suspiciously before backing away. Living around mutants was going to be more of an adjustment than she'd thought.

"I'm sorry about her, Jenn's been going through a hard time." Dani said. "She'll warm up to you, eventually."

"You sure about that?" Ridley asked as she threw her bag onto the other bed and sat down.

Dani shrugged. "I don't actually know her that well."

"Some help you are." Ridley chuckled. "I thought you were supposed to be some super well-informed student here."

Dani cocked an eyebrow at her. "Do I look like a student body president to you?"

"It's mutant school." Ridley said as she rummaged through her bag. "Assumptions don't seem to get me anywhere here."

Dani laughed at that and Ridley felt her chest flutter a little. It was nice to have someone else to talk to honestly for a change.

Who knows, if the students were more like Dani and less like Jenn, she had a feeling she might actually like staying at this weird little school.

**—Jesse—**

Jesse wasn't one for skipping classes, especially his history class, but he wasn't in the mood to watch Ms. Holliday recreate the Battle of Little Bighorn today. He just wanted to lay on his bed and figure out how to deal with what Rachel had told them.

However, fate seemed to have other ideas. Not ten minutes after he'd sat down at his keyboard and began hammering out a particularly difficult John Legend riff had Jack decided to barge into his dorm unannounced.

"We're dead."

"I'm not in the mood to talk, Jack." He said as he turned around, but his brother made no move to leave. "What?"

"Dad's on the phone."

Jesse cocked an eyebrow at him. Their father never called when they were supposed to be in class, except if there was an emergency.

"Does he know about the video?"

"He didn't say." Jack said before putting the cellphone back to his ear. "Yeah, I found him. I'll put us on speaker."

Jack set the phone down on Jesse's desk and pressed an image on the screen before he sat in the pulled out chair.

"Hey Dad, what's up?" Jesse asked in as upbeat of a voice as he could muster.

"Is everything okay?" Jack asked. "No one's sick or anything, right?"

"Everyone's fine." He replied. "So, boys, guess what I saw on the internet today?"

Jesse's eyebrows rose to his hairline as he turned to Jack.

"A cat playing the keyboard?" His brother supplied, he looked just as worried as Jesse did.

"It's a spectacular video." Jesse added. "If you haven't seen it, you should."

"I sent you two to that school to get control over your powers and to look out for one another." Their father said in a low voice. "And what do I see, you two fighting and showing me that you have no control whatsoever."

"Dad, that's not what happened." Jesse said.

"Yeah, we were just—"

"Jonathan..."

"Shutting up." Jack said quietly.

"I'm going to be coming up there in a day or two to discuss your punishments with Professor Schuester."

"But they already—"

"Jesse..." Their father warned.

"Shutting up as well."

"And after I talk to him, the three of us are going to have a very long talk about responsibility." Kristopher added before the line went dead.

"He sounded mad." Jesse said as he laid back down on the bed.

"Luckily, Dad doesn't believe in hitting his kids."

"But, we live in the constant that, one day, he's going to forget what he believes in." Jesse replied with a humorless chuckle.

"I'm going to kill that bomb-making psychopath for this." Jack said out of the blue.

Jesse groaned. Of course Jack was going to pin this all on the new girl.

"Please don't do anything stupid." He replied. "She was scared, and this sort of thing can happen when you go out on a recruiting mission."

"It is her fault." He contested, "Things could've been so much easier if she hadn't freaked the hell out."

"Punishing her doesn't solve anything."

"Maybe, but it's certainly not going to make things any worse." Jack replied.

Jesse opened his mouth to argue with his thick-headed brother, but then he stopped himself. Jack was always cooking up crazy, and generally successful, schemes but alienating a destructive mutant on top of all his other punishments was bound to blow up in this face. If Jesse played this right, this exercise in revenge could actually knock some sense into his little brother. He would've felt bad that the new girl was going to have to suffer for Jack to learn something. But, it seemed fair given all the hell she'd put him and his team through.

"It was bound to happen to her eventually." He thought dismissively as Jack rattled off his various ideas to make the new kid crazy. "I just hope she can survive the mutant school hazing."

**Author's Note: Surprise! I finally updated! This chapter was a pain in the fracking butt to write and edit but now it's done! The next couple of chapters are going to be doozies and, with any luck, their won't be this long of a gap between postings. I make no promises though, taking classes have that nasty effect of eating up all my time.**


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